The nice thing now is that Nintendo has no reason to not include SNES VC on the Switch, they can't say it's too weak. Maybe for some GCN games I'm not a 100%, but definitely SNES & N64 and probably some GCN games. If they decide to continue VC though, which would be a total shame if they didn't.

I expect we'll see the same dripfeed of VC games we've already had on older systems. I'm going to be legitimately annoyed if this thing doesn't get GBA VC, though. This is the one console where GBA VC makes sense.

@GameOtaku
It isn't. The contracts are always very specific, to avoid confusion or misunderstansing. If Nintendo wanted to do something with Castlevania Legends, they would have to sit with Konami, negotiate under what conditions the game would be available (who makes the game compatible with Nintendo's VC, how much will it cost, how will revenue be split among the companies, etc). And this requires, most likely, multiple meetings, and revisions of the contract by both companies legal teams.

You may hate it, but the inner workings of companies are far more complicated that you would imagine. Signing a business deal, or making a project between 2 companies isn't easy at all.

Even if SNES titles were to go to the old 3ds I'd still want them to continue NES and Gameboy VC. If the way the mini has sold is any indication then it would seem continuing the NES and Gameboy VC would be a great idea.

@GameOtaku Isn't the NES version of Yoshi already available? Probably why the GB version is not.
Yoshi's Cookie is not first party. Home Data created it (according to the SNES copyrights), Bullet-Proof Software ported whatever it was originally meant for to Nintendo's consoles, Nintendo bought BPS' NES port and threw Yoshi into it. Someone else now owns the game copyright and Nintendo had to re-license it for the GameCube (in Japan) and Wii VC. The Wii VC license expired and Nintendo had to delete it (I think it's the only VC game so far that has not just been made unavailable for purchase but completely removed).

That's what the group willing to pay that price is. Nothing more than a niche, not indicative of the yields Konami could get from negotiating with Nintendo.

You want more VC for the 3DS. We get it, and it could be nice, but from a business perspective for Nintendo, it doesn't make sense. You won't see it as a fan - think of them as a business, just as you think of a bank, a computer software provider, that's interested in people upgrading to the new hardware. The 3DS now will be on live support and become only a cost producer for them as they try to make the Switch take off, and in Japan its already being treated as a handheld and sucessor to 3DS & Vita. Why, then, would Nintendo continue services for 3DS?

Look at Windows - millions of people worldwide used Windows XP and weren't willing to upgrade from it to the new OS, for whatever reason. To force them to upgrade (and not lose revenue) Microsoft killed support for that OS. We're going to watch the same thing happen here, as it has happened some many times before.

@Luna_110
It doesn't make sense to release the Castlevania NES trilogy and only the first of the Gameboy trilogy and then stop. Just like it doesn't make since for Nintendos first party games (star tropics, solar striker etc) to either be exclusive to WiiU or not released at all seeing as they wouldn't have any licensing qualms. As you say the retro market is niche just like the Mario games ($20+ for a pack in Mario World cart?!) some games sell better than others, and Castlevania is a series that does very well.

Ok let me get this straight. The WiiU is dead, its sales are plummeting like crazy, and yet somehow it keeps getting VC releases?! What sort of idiocy is this? I think the people at Nintendo have lost what's left of their brains! 2 more tg16 games for WiiU VC tomorrow but nothing for 3ds VC?! They have tg16 VC for the 3ds (older models and 2ds mind you) in Japan so why aren't we getting them here?! There are still lots of first party games they can release so why haven't they?! It's not like it's going to cannibalize sales of the switch?! Not everyone is going to upgrade to the switch overnight, some people are more thrifty with their money than to just to throw it away on a new system.

I do agree that it's wrong to have stopped releasing VC games for the 3DS. There are a lot of GB and GBC games I would have downloaded that have yet to be on its eshop. I don't care for NES games since I already have them on Wii U and they are more expensive on 3DS than on Wii U for some reason.

The Switch is out now, there's no reason for them to do another massive push for VC on the 3DS or Wii U. It's not going to happen. But the good news is that the Switch is powerful enough that it could potentially emulate everything upto and including the Wii. Controller issues aside. I expect we'll see some VC titles still appear on the 3DS and Wii U for a bit longer but it's not going to be a big effort.

Lets be real here. The only reason legacy VC services matter now is in terms of past purchases. When they inevitably release Super Mario Kart on the Switch VC as someone who has it on the Wii U VC is it going to cost me $11AU, $3AU or $0? That's the question we should be asking. Not dwelling on questions of whether 5 year old hardware should be getting more games or not....

@skywake
I'm not getting a switch anytime soon until all bugs are worked out. They've said they would continue to support the 3ds (WiiU not so much). There's really no reason for this drought. And no I don't see it being able to emulate everything like you said. I don't know why they just don't release what's on WiiU NES, SNES VC and throw in some more Gameboy titles (really they need more) maybe do releases as part of s promotion (power rangers Gameboy, SNES and Genesis VC for the new movie, or they could have released dragon quest 1-4 when 8 came out.) just continue to release VC titles on both when the switch VC does come out. That way you don't necessarily have to upgrade just to play new old games.

@skywake
1. Joycon issues, better library of games (something M rated)
2. The list of games for the (original) 3ds is quite good this year with ever oasis and 2 fire emblems so I don't see it going anywhere anytime soon.
3. When the 3ds got NES VC everyone clamored it could play SNES they wanted SNES it was powerful enough to do the job then Ninty came along with a slight upgrade and everyone lost their minds thinking the old was powerful enough but not powerful to do the job! I figure something will happen along the lines it's too powerful of a processor to do emulation without causing issues (or some crap like that).

@GameOtaku
1. Sensationalist headlines will always get clicks. The only major issue is the Joycon sync issue and even that has been mostly fixed by firmware from what I can tell. I have not encountered it yet. Some others who reported it are now saying it has been resolved. Also a lack of games isn't a "bug". If anything a lack of games is the reason why they're going to pull resources away from the 3DS.

2. A console that has sold as many units as the 3DS was always going to get a long tail of support. That doesn't mean that support will not slow down. I expect there will be new games for the rest of this year and a bit longer. Your desire for more services and a rapidly expanded VC however is not going to happen. The time for that kind of stuff will pass.

3. The Switch has something like 2-3x the processing power of the Wii U and 200-400x the processing power of the 3DS. You're the one who's been whining about the old 3DS not having SNES games claiming that it has the horsepower. It's a bit rich for you to now be claiming that the Switch won't be able to run an expanded VC. You're making it abundantly clear that your only issue with the New 3DS was that you didn't own one not that it actually had a SNES VC.

@skywake
The new 3ds simply doesn't have enough bang for its buck. Considering you can only find $200 xl versions and no normal size new 3ds other than the limited Black Friday and expensive bundles. I could buy a 2ds for cheap and it's selling rather well so just because the original is past doesn't mean squat. Besides I'd still complain even if I had a new 3ds just because it can play SNES VC doesn't mean that's all they should release for it! I'd rather have more Gameboy games than SNES VC any day of the week, for out of the released titles only 2 really interest me (Castlevania 4 and Dracula X)

It's kinda ridiculous for people to think just because something is out newer and better that everyone would just drop their old consoles like a bad punch line. They could just carry on releasing VC titles as usual and (hopefully) the VC purchases will carry over to the switch. That way no one loses anything! So I'm hoping that the drought on 3ds will be over before long and will be well worth it. Maybe they are just ironing out details to make a huge influx of games locked to WiiU VC (like some of the NES titles such as Bayou Billy and Star Tropics)

@GameOtaku
Well the fact that your new target is the Switch makes it abundantly clear what you're about. It's not about the VC at all. It's about you venting over the idea that you brought a console that isn't getting the full attention from Nintendo it once had. Something that is only going to accelerate now that the Switch is out.